Bledar Kola

Bledar Kola (born 1 August 1972) is an Albanian retired football player and later manager.

Early life Kola comes from Mirditë, but grew up in the city of Lezhë. He was an exemplary student. He started his career at Besëlidhja Lezhë, and then moved to Partizani Tirana. Later he moved to Greece where his playing career took off.

Club career Kola started his career at Besëlidhja and in 1988 he was promoted to the first team. In 1989 he moved to Partizani and in the following season he played for Elbasani. In the summer of 1991 Kola took part in the Mediterranean Games with Albania in Greece caught the eye of the manager of Panargiakos, Angelos Anastasiadis. Thus he was acquired by the Greek club, where he played for 3 seasons. In 1994 he joined Apollon Athens and he helped the team with his performances qualify for the UEFA Cup in 1995 and the Cup final in 1996.

In the summer of 1996 he made the big step of his career and was transferred to Panathinaikos, where he played for 4.5 seasons. In November 2001, he became Greek, was baptized an Orthodox Christian and took the name "Christophoros". During his spell at the club he won the Cup in 2002. On 7 July 2002 his contract with was terminated and he signed for Kallithea. In January 2003, Kola was released by Kallithea after failing a doping test. Afterwards he returned to Apollon, where he finished his career in 2004. His final international was a March 2001 FIFA World Cup qualification against England in Tirana.

National team statistics

International goals Scores and results list Albania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kola goal.

+ List of international goals scored by Marinos OuzounidisNo.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition

Managerial career Kola took temporary charge at AEK Athens in August 2010 and was named full-time manager of Apollon Smyrnis in July 2012. He also coached Panargiakos and from 2014 was the assistant of Marinos Ouzounidis at Panionios, Panathinaikos and AEK Athens, respectively, until 2019.

Honours AEK Athens Greek Cup: 2001–02